The First Week of Insanity

Wow, I’m guessing the title of this post could be a bit misleading. A couple of weeks ago, I had noticed that a Facebook friend kept writing about an Insanity workout she was doing. I thought she was being dramatic.

I later learned that this workout program is the latest rage. I hopped onto Amazon and found that the ten disc program could be in my hands in time to start it on April 1. Game on.

When some of my friends heard that I was taking this on, they laughed REALLY hard. I climbed 2,109 stairs, the Willis Tower, last November. I’ve been told I have strong upper body strength. I ride my bicycle faithfully, take walks, use weights. I can’t be that big of a mess, can I?

The Insanity workout uses your core as the equipment. So all you need is energy and coordination to make it happen and two months of your life. But the good news is that you only need 30 minutes to an hour six days a week. That’s appealing. Don’t get me wrong, I know the first month is a teaser and the second month will knock me off the orifice on which I sit, but I digress.

You need space, too. Like a basement or some hard floor that won’t cause your neighbors to start banging their brooms at you as you get into the workout and accidentally smack your head on the ceiling fan. That didn’t happen, by the way. I would argue, however, that living on the third floor does make me a bit timid with some of the effort on my moves. I may have to sneak into the laundry room one of these days so I can really get into the moves.

I GOT THIS! As I started the FIT Test on Monday, I met Shaun T. Perky leader and developer of this program called Insanity. Men probably don’t like to be called perky, sorry. How about enthusiastic and energetic? Let’s get back to that coordinated word I used above. Half of the moves required me to drop my jaw in utter shock that I may indeed be able to master that technique, some day. “You want me to what?!” A REAL push up? Come on, I know how to do the fake ones…

KEEP MOVING!By Wednesday, I was starting my day by dropping to the floor of my workspace and doing push ups to get me pumped up for my day. By Thursday, I asked my work neighbor, “Would you like to start your day with some push ups?” He was amused and somewhat taken aback, but he dropped and gave me 5 – showing off with his knuckles keeping him from smashing into the ground. Afterwards, he lifted his arms like Rocky. It was one of those cool moments that you know will never happen again, so you just go with it.

DIG DEEPER!By today, I have completed a whole week. Take that, you naysayers! Shaun T’s voice is in my head. I can hear him coaching me through these crazy moves. We play basketball, ski, box, run some hurdles, mountain climb, do crazy versions of jumping jacks that include doing a push up as your legs flail at the bottom. It’s nuts. It’s insane. The title is fitting.